Tag - Campus 2

A fresh tour of the Apple Campus 2 structure by Pop Sci provides a closer look at its its passive cooling system. The video tour shows how the building's architecture has been designed to utilize both concrete and a special ventilation system to keep the working environment cool without using any electricity. Also getting a closer look are the enormous glass panels that encapsulate the over 1-mile around circular structure, as well as a run-down on some of the incredible statistics associated with building Apple's new multi-billion-dollar home.

A new flyover of Apple's "Campus 2" shows significant progress on the main structure, as well as related structures on the land as it heads towards completion scheduled for the end of 2016. The latest flyover shows progress being made on the roof of the multi-billion dollar campus, with a view of the passive heating and cooling systems that have been put in place. Also visible are shots of the main theater that will be partially situated underground, as will some other structures, which is keeping in with its theme of being energy self-sufficient and maintaining a relatively low-profile footprint.

Apple is making good progress on the construction of its Campus 2 project, according to a flyover of the construction site by a camera-equipped drone. The latest look at the work underway at the future home of the company shows the last major section of the main ring-shaped building is being worked on, as well as some of the important infrastructure that Apple will use to its advantage, and an overview of the entire building site.

Apple has given a hint of what to expect when its "spaceship" Campus 2 construction is completed, by releasing photographs of work being performed on notable areas of the complex. The main focus of the new photographs in a report is the on-site theater, which is a 120,000 square foot building with a capacity of 1,000 seats and a subterranean auditorium, a venue which Apple is expected to use for its product launches and major announcements instead of temporarily renting space elsewhere.

U.S. Bank, the fifth largest American bank by deposits, on Thursday announced it had added support for Apple Pay to its FlexPerks American Express (Amex) credit cards. Users of the FlexPerks Reserve Amex card, the FlexPerks Travel Rewards Amex card, and the FlexPerks Select+ card can immediately add their cards to the iOS Wallet program to gain Apple Pay functionality for online transactions, or retail store buying with an iPhone 6 or later, or an iPhone 5s paired with an Apple Watch.

In addition to the recently-reported opening of the 30th Apple retail store in the combined mainland China and Hong Kong regions, the company has now announced two more stores that will open this month. The Shenyang store previously reported on will open on Thursday, January 14 at 10AM local time, with the 31st being a second store for the city of Nanjing at the IST Mall in the Xuanwu District, which will debut on Saturday, January 16. A 32nd store will be the first to come to the city of Guangzhou at the Parc Central shopping area in the Tianhe District.

A new drone video from pilot Duncan Sinfield has revealed that that iconic architectural plan for Apple's "Campus 2" spaceship-like mega-building is beginning to take shape. Importantly, the walls of the four-story ring-shaped building are now up, and the drone footage shows off the underground auditorium that will serve as the company's new "Town Hall" for product introductions and other events. The video also shows off the ongoing development of some R&D facilities that will be located on the campus, currently known as the "Tantau" project.

Apple has "raised the bar for construction standards" during the building of Campus 2, according to a person claimed to be involved with the ongoing project. A report claims the new "spaceship" headquarters in Cupertino apparently goes far above and beyond projects for other tech companies, with Apple also taking a more hands-on approach to managing contractors as the building work continues.

Apple has replaced the original contractors of its Campus 2 ("spaceship") construction project, as we previously reported, and has now appointed two other firms -- Rudolph & Sletten, and Holder Construction -- to take over the project, after firing the original partnership of DPR/Skanska. The latter firm had said earlier that it had reached an "impasse" in negotiations over changes in the scope of the work, and had been terminated from the project.

Apple has been working on the Campus 2 facility since 2013 and beyond. This week, information surfaced that Apple will no longer be retaining the general contractors who had been handling the construction of the "Spaceship," called because of its ring shape and sleek exterior design. While the reasons for the split are vague, it's known that DPR Construction and Skanska USA will be transitioned off the project over the course of the next few weeks.

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Cirrus creates Lightning-headphone dev kit

Apple supplier Cirrus Logic has introduced a MFi-compliant new development kit for companies interested in using Cirrus' chips to create Lightning-based headphones, which -- regardless of whether rumors about Apple dropping the analog headphone jack in its iPhone this fall -- can offer advantages to music-loving iOS device users. The kit mentions some of the advantages of an all-digital headset or headphone connector, including higher-bitrate support, a more customizable experience, and support for power and data transfer into headphone hardware. Several companies already make Lightning headphones, and Apple has supported the concept since June 2014. http://bit.ly/29giiZj

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Apple Store app offers Procreate Pocket

The Apple Store app for iPhone, which periodically rewards users with free app gifts, is now offering the iPhone "Pocket" version of drawing app Procreate for those who have the free Apple Store app until July 28. Users who have redeemed the offer by navigating to the "Stores" tab of the app and swiping past the "iPhone Upgrade Program" banner to the "Procreate" banner have noted that only the limited Pocket (iPhone) version of the app is available free, even if the Apple Store app is installed and the offer redeemed on an iPad. The Pocket version currently sells for $3 on the iOS App Store. [32.4MB]

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Porsche adds CarPlay to 2017 Panamera

Porsche has added a fifth model of vehicle to its CarPlay-supported lineup, announcing that the 2017 Panamera -- which will arrive in the US in January -- will include Apple's infotainment technology, and be seen on a giant 12.3-inch touchscreen as part of an all-new Porsche Communication Management system. The luxury sedan starts at $99,900 for the 4S model, and scales up to the Panamera Turbo, which sells for $146,900. Other vehicles that currently support CarPlay include the 2016 911 and the 2017 models of Macan, 718 Boxster, and 718 Cayman. The company did not mention support for Google's corresponding Android Auto in its announcement. http://bit.ly/295ZQ94

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Apple employees testing wheelchair features

New features included in the forthcoming watchOS 3 are being tested by Apple retail store employees, including a new activity-tracking feature that has been designed with wheelchair users in mind. The move is slightly unusual in that, while retail employees have previously been used to test pre-release versions of OS X and iOS, this marks the first time they've been included in the otherwise developer-only watchOS betas. The company is said to have gone to great lengths to modify the activity tracker for wheelchair users, including changing the "time to stand" notification to "time to roll" and including two wheelchair-centric workout apps. http://bit.ly/2955JDa

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SanDisk reveals two 256GB microSDXC cards

SanDisk has introduced two 256GB microSDXC cards. Arriving in August for $150, the Ultra microSDXC UHS-I Premium Edition card offers transfer speeds of up to 95MB/s for reading data. The Extreme microSDXC UHS-I card can read at a fast 100MB/s and write at up to 90MB/s, and will be shipping sometime in the fourth quarter for $200. http://bit.ly/294Q1If

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Apple's third-quarter results due July 26

Apple has advised it will be issuing its third-quarter results on July 26, with a conference call to answer investor and analyst queries about the earnings set to take place later that day. The stream of the call will go live at 2pm PT (5pm ET) via Apple's investor site, with the results themselves expected to be released roughly 30 minutes before the call commences. Apple's guidance for the quarter put revenue at between $41 billion and $43 billion. http://apple.co/1oi1Pbm

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Twitter stickers slowly roll out to users

Twitter has introduced "stickers," allowing users to add extra graphical elements to their photos before uploading them to the micro-blogging service. A library of hundreds of accessories, props, and emoji will be available to use as stickers, which can be resized, rotated, and placed anywhere on the photograph. Images with stickers will also become searchable with viewers able to select a sticker to see how others use the same graphic in their own posts. Twitter advises stickers will be rolling out to users over the next few weeks, and will work on both the mobile apps and through the browser. http://bit.ly/29bbwUE